Places To Visit In British Colombia

Canada

Haida Gwaii

Mystical islands with a rich cultural history

Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago off British Columbia’s west coast, in Canada. Wildlife-rich Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site includes remote islands and temperate rainforest. Centuries-old totem poles stand in the remains of the Haida Nation village known as SGang Gwaay Llnagaay. Naikoon Provincial Park, on Graham Island, has trails and beaches.

This remote and rugged archipelago is steeped in the ancient culture of the Haida First Nation. Here old-growth rainforest is surrounded by a rich marine environment, both home to unique subspecies found only on these magical islands. Gwaii Haanas, a highly protected area overseen jointly by Parks Canada and the Haida Nation, is home to extraordinary natural scenery and cultural treasures, including ancient totems that are slowly decaying and being reclaimed by the land.

Canadian Rockies

Awe-inspiring peaks, impossibly blue lakes

The Canadian Rockies mountain range spans the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. With jagged, ice-capped peaks, including towering Mt. Robson, it's a region of alpine lakes, diverse wildlife and outdoor recreation sites. Yoho National Park is home to the massive Takakkaw Falls. Other national parks are Jasper, with the famously accessible Athabasca Glacier, and Banff, site of glacier-fed Lake Louise.

The Rockies evoke images of towering, snow-capped peaks, turquoise lakes, cascading waterfalls, and dense evergreen forests. In BC, that jaw-dropping, Rocky Mountain scenery—the kind that stays with you long after you’ve returned home—stretches the entire length of the province. UNESCO established the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site along the BC/Alberta border, in part because of this spectacular beauty. The area is also globally significant because of the Burgess Shale fossil site, which shows in amazing detail what the Earth was like more than half a billion years ago.

Great Bear Rainforest

Home of the elusive Spirit Bear

The Great Bear Rainforest is a temperate rain forest on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada comprising 6.4 million hectares. It is part of the larger Pacific temperate rainforest ecoregion, which is the largest coastal temperate rainforest in the world.

The planet’s largest intact coastal temperate rainforest, the Great Bear is a revered and protected wilderness area. This section of BC’s Central Coast is remote and there are few roads within its boundaries, which contributes to a feeling of peace and serenity—of truly being in nature—for all who visit. BC’s First Nations have called this stretch of coastline home for thousands of years, and their influence is strongly felt. It is also home to an abundance of marine life, from whales to dolphins to sea otters. Add the fact that it is the only place in the world to see the rare white Kermode (Spirit) bear, and a trip to the Great Bear Rainforest is an experience unlike any other.